


Venom

by lindenwaverly



Series: Rogueverse [1]
Category: Batfamily - Fandom, Batman - Fandom, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: AU, AU - Villains, Catwoman doesn't know how she managed to get so many kids in her life, Dick is an exasperated older brother, I'm sorry this started off angsty and ended up cracky I'm trying to find a middle ground I swear, M/M, Villains, alternative universe, she just knows she doesn't want them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 06:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindenwaverly/pseuds/lindenwaverly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Batman works alone. Batman has always worked alone. So when Dick Grayson watched his parents fall from the trapeze, it was up to Selina Kyle to take him in. When Jason Todd, Dick's first "little brother", was beaten half to death, it was Bane and his venom that saved him. When Tim Drake ran away, it was to Dick that he always went, until the day came when Tim felt he couldn't come anymore and went to Penguin instead.</p>
<p>Now Dick is Stray, Jason is Venom and Tim is Hatchling (even if he refuses to acknowledge the nickname), and Tim can't work out if Jason wants to kill him or flirt with him. </p>
<p>Things are made a little more complicated by the League of Assassins coming to town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Venom

We may have a problem, sir.”

Cobblepot – Tim refused to think of him as Penguin anymore, and he was definitely not going to think of himself as  _Hatchling –_ blew a cloud of smoke across the card table. He followed it disinterestedly. When he’d first turned up one day in Penguin’s office with a fool-proof method of catching card counters and a plea for a job, the cigars had been one of the things that impressed him so much - $300 dollars a box just to burn the things. Now the smell made him feel faintly nauseous.

 

“Bane still moving west?”

“Yes, but… this is a new situation.”

“Black Mask?”

“The sort of situation that might require getting our nocturnal associate involved in.” Because they didn’t say the B-word. Tim had seen him grovel like a little girl in front of him, and he hates to be reminded of that. Small man, large and fragile ego.

Copplepot pushed away the shivering girl in the silver spandex – and Tim specifically remembered telling them no silver, it was all white now to give a more modern, streamlined aesthetic – and followed him out of the room, back to the black-and-white office in which Tim had done most of his growing up. In a particularly vindictive moment, he’d scrambled the cameras in this office and lost his virginity over the desk. A stuffed Emperor Penguin stared mournfully about. Tim knew how it felt.

Maybe, when Cobblepot was finally dead and he stripped every single bird-themed thing from this place and burnt it on the roof, he would keep this one penguin.

“If this is about that fucking Bane shipment, Drake, then I already – “  
“And I’ve already told you it isn’t.”  
“It isn’t – what?”  
“It isn’t, sir.”  
Maybe he would put a hat on the penguin and use its beak as an ashtray.  
“What then?”  
“Al Ghul.”  
Cobblepot went pale. “That’s… it’s an urban legend.”

“So was our nocturnal associate, for a while. And whether you believe in magical pits and immortal ninjas, the fact remains that The League exists, even if hidden deeply in the shadows, and one who represents them and bears the name of Al Ghul is coming to Gotham.”

“When?”  
“Within the next month. The city is going to be crawling with League members.”

“Which means…?”

“Which means we can’t afford to have too many non-expendable people out on the streets for a while, looking like a threat to them.”  
“Which means,” said Copplebot, “we cannot have the fucking Bane problem. He’s using our ports. He’s expanding into our territory. He’s fucking us in our own back yard, Drake.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“What do I…? I want you to do your fucking job, Drake. You’re the negotiator. Negotiate.”  
“Bane has apparently stopped coming to meetings. He’s spending all his time taking a hands-on approach to venom production.”  
“So find who in his organisation is talking,” said Penguin, “and talk to them. And speaking of which, I’ve got a lovely Albanian I wasn’t talking to to get back to.”

* * *

“What the fuck are you doing on our rooftop?”

Venom –  _Jason,_ corrected Tim, because he wasn’t going to succumb to pressure and start using the nicknames that everyone seems to have – was standing there, very obviously reeling in a microphone from out of the air vents that lead to Cobblepot’s office.

“Shady activities, Hatchling. Criminal dealings. Illegal… things.”

“Don’t call me Hatchling.”

Jason straightened up. “Whatever, Princess. I hear we’re on opposite sides of a gang war now.”

“Mm-hm. And where’d you hear that?”

“You know. Through the grapevine. By the way, you’ve got a crop of Belladonna’s vines in your basement.”

Tim swore. Belladonna was a once-friend-now-nemesis of Ivy’s, and she monitored the entire city through an intricate plant network. Once you had an infestation, it was impossible to get rid of, and the Sirens were going to know all your business.

Plus, the fact that Jason knew that meant he’d been down in the basement. Where the weapons were.

“I suppose there’s no point asking what you stole?”

“Only a kiss from a lovely young lady in silver spandex. And a Glock. Don’t know why. The mood just struck me.”

“Are you planning to kill me?”

“Not tonight, baby bird. Seems a little unnecessary.”

From downstairs, the orchestra was playing  _Dream A Little Dream Of Me._ The strippers would be flirting for their last few tips, the whores would be moving in for the kill on the successful gamblers and the unsuccessful ones would be spending their last few dollars on a whiskey and thinking of wives lonely or cheating or long-gone.

“You know,” said Jason, “it’s actually kind of nice that you warned Penguin. You could have blown up the Bane thing, had him cause a mess while Al Ghul was in town and get wiped out.”

“You think I didn’t consider that?”

“No, I’m sure you drew out a perfect flowchart of every possible option.”

“If the League take someone down, they take them down. That means their business, the assets, everything. If that happens to Cobblepot then I’ve got nothing left to inherit.”

Jason laughed, though Tim didn’t know why. With his leather jacket shed Tim could see the scars that covered his body, thick brutal things that hardly looked like flesh anymore. There was a Venom tank and applicator attached to his belt. Rumours said that once he’d been beaten so badly that it was only liberal application of Venom that gave him the strength to pull though, and now it was the only thing that kept him alive. Rumours also said that Batman spoke in an ancient demonic tongue.

“You know, Babybird, I bet there’s one thing you’ve never considered.”

“What?” There was that thing in the air now, the feeling that made the air between them feel thicker than it was and made the space feel like it was shrinking.

“Get out of Gotham. Get on a bus to Metropolis, Central City, Coast City, any city where the heroes aren’t twice as fucked up as the villains and there’s, you know, actual sun.”

“What would I live on?”

“Like you haven’t got money saved up.”

“Not enough. For, you know. A life.”

“Get a real job that doesn’t involve hookers and corpses?”

“I don’t deal with the corpses.”

He snorted. “Of course, Princess.”

“Do you?”

“I’m Venom. I create corpses. Haven’t you heard?”

“I heard you once nearly were one.”

Jason’s face changed, the easy expression lost. When he was angry, he seemed to use his whole face to express it – lips curled back so far he put his cheeks into it, forehead furrowed, eyebrows flattened furiously. Tim could have sworn he was growling. Old Jason, handsome Jason disappeared under – this.

“You should watch yourself, babybird.” He wound the microphone into his bag and disappeared across the rooftops.

* * *

“Hey little bro-bro.”

Tim turned with a sigh. Dick was there, grinning at him, goggles pulled up.

“Little bro-bro? I think I prefer “princess.””

“What?”

“Nothing. Sorry. Hey.”

When he’d run away from home for the first time when he was nine, he’d met Dick, fresh from running away from the Circus of Strange. He’d been brought back, of course, but he’d kept trying and every time he went back to Dick. Until one day his parents were dead, and he needed a future. He went to Cobblepot instead, because by that time Dick was Stray and didn’t need him behaving like some pathetic hanger on. He’d slightly paid back the debt he owed to him. He hoped so, anyway.

“What’s up?”

“Is this the bit where I bitch about Cobblepot or the bit where I say I’m fine?”

“No, it’s the bit where you go the fuck to sleep.”  
“Business never sleeps.”

“But you do, asshole. Get into bed or I’ll get in there with you.”

Tim didn’t move, so Dick sighed, swooped in and scooped him up.

“Gerrof.”

Dick tipped back his head and sang. “Go to bed, my darling. Go to bed, my dear.”

“Go away. I’m a big man around these parts now. I’m very scary and everything.”  
“Of course you are, Hatchling.”  
“I could hand your photo over to the police.”

“Batguy’s got a crush on Selina. He’d get me off.”

“Does he know that you take him this seriously?”  
Dick just grinned and deposited him into bed, crawling up next to him.

“You’re taking up too much space, Timmers.”  
“Well it is, you know, my bed.”  
“There’s a crack den under my flat now and it smells awful. Also – remember Belladonna?”

“The plant-based superhero who I don’t know the secret identity of and absolutely don’t know about your crush on?”

“Her dad is causing problems.”

“Hey. Pro-tip for you and Selina. Stop dating people who want to arrest you.”

“Stop…  Timming. Shh. I’m tired.”  
Tim sighed and snuggled closer to him. He hadn’t ever questioned it when Dick started referring to them as brothers. If he was going to have a family, he could have done worse.

“What’s the news, then?” murmured Dick.  
“I thought I was meant to be sleeping.”  
“You would be a terrible nurse, you know that? I don’t know, Venom turned up on our rooftop and acted like a psychopath.”  
He could feel Dick frown against his cheek. “Be careful around him, all right?”  
“Hey. You’re the one who’s always saying that we’re brothers. What could be safer than family?”  
“Yeah. Family. That’s exactly what he views you as.”  
“Ooh, shut up. All families fight. A gang war is just – a big fight.”  
He was half-asleep when he heard Dick mutter “That’s not exactly what I mean.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you're wondering, Cass, Steph and Babs will show up in this AU (Babs is already mentioned here but her backstory is kind of confusing so I'll have to write it up somewhere else).   
> (Also orollyitstimdrake is also writing drabbles for this verse so yes you should go look at those).


End file.
